AIIB hikes infra financing by $1.9 billion

India, the second-largest stakeholder in the $100-billion Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has emerged as the largest market for the bank due to the size of its economy. For the country AIIB has so far approved six projects worth of $1.2 billion across transport and power transmission sectors and has lined up $1.9 billion for six more infrastructure projects and the funds are to be approved shortly, Principal Strategy Officer, Strategy, Policy & Budget Department, AIIB, Najeeb Haider said. The Bank, which was set up as the multilateral development body in China in 2016, currently commands a membership 86 countries. The next stage is to start building its own pipeline of deals and originating exclusive transactions across sectors like energy and power transmission, transport and sustainable cities. AIIB, a new body on the block in the infrastructure lending space, is mainly co-financing infrastructure projects along with established institutions like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as it is still in the process of building team, knowledge and expertise. Once it establishes itself as a leading player, it will bank for infrastructure in the medium term and it is keen to be the most innovative and most responsive to its clients' requirements, he added.